>> the iranian president comes to america and echoes the internet live that 9/11 was an inside job. our president fires back and now the nuclear showdown hits the world stage. i'm shepard smith. the news starts now. >> let me be clear once more, the united states and the international community seek a resolution to our differences with iran. >> but so far, iran hasn't been too cooperative. tonight, the iranian leader mahmoud ahmadinejad offers his side of the story. we can stream shows, get them on demand, subscribe to net flix. but when's the last time you actually went to a store and rented a video? that might be the problem for this company. tonight, blockbuster goes

bankrupt. >> plus -- >> in 1987, i were loremember l up to the twin towers and realizing wouldn't it be fantastic to own buildings? >> he realized his dream weeks before 9/11. tonight, he shares his vision for rebuilding and tells us how on the day of the attacks, his wife saved his life. first from fox tonight, mahmoud ahmadinejad. mahmoud ahmadinejad has a history of making waves at the united nations and today at the general assembly, he put on quite a show. saying many of said america was actually behind the attacks of 9/11, that we attacked our own people. and that it was an attempt to assure israel survives. upon hearing that, the american delegation walked right out of there. the british, too. president obama spoke at today's meeting at the general assembly

first. he warned iran there will be consequences if it keeps defying the united nations with its nuclear program. but he also said there is still a chance for a peaceful end to the stand-off. >> the door remains open to diplomacy should iran choose to walk through it. but the iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear program. >> well, a few hours later, we didn't get that. instead, it was the president ahmadinejad's turn. instead of walking through that door of diplomacy, he decided to suggest 9/11 was an inside job. >> that some segments within the u.s. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining american economy and its grips on the middle east in order to save the zionist regime. >> well, that's when, as i mentioned, the americans got up and left calling ahmadinejad's comments vial conspiracy theories and anti-semitic slurs.

and the president jumped in the mix afterward. our white house correspondent mike emanuel live at the u.n. tonight. really strong reaction from the president after that speech. >> no question, shep, when he heard those comments. spokesman robert gibbs sent me a reaction moments ago saying president obama found those comments to be outrageous and offensive. particularly how close we are to ground zero. we also got this reaction from state department spokesman p.j. crowley. >> it's outrageous. you know, a short distance from here, nine years ago, 3,000 people were killed in an attack perpetrated by 19 people but attack that was orchestrate by al-qaida. we know exactly who did it. they've admitted it. the facts are not in dispute. >> so while much of the day was focused on diplomatic speak, clearly those comments by ahmadinejad late this afternoon hit a nerve. shep? >> and analysts point out he was speaking at the united

nations but he may have had another audience. in fact, most likely did. one back home. >> well, that's right. experts who know ahmadinejad say that essentially coming to the u.n. is an opportunity for him to speak to his own people, to stand up and try to look like a statesman and try to thump his chest here on the american soil, back in iran, he has a lot of domestic problems back at home so what the u.s. is going to do in response is president obama is going to do an interview with bbc persia tomorrow to speak directly to the iranian people while their leader is here in the u.s. shep? >> that sounds interesting. mike emanuel at the united nations. thanks. i'm scheduled to speak with the iranian president ahmadinejad tomorrow. i'll ask him about this whole 9/11 as an inside job thing. the interview is scheduled for the morning. bring parts of it to you on "studio b" and "fox report" tomorrow on fox newschannel. the american hiker held prisoner in iran for more than a year says she's hoping to meet with president ahmadinejad while he's

here in the united states. sarah shourd and her fiance are sti and another man are still in prison in iran. >> i have no animosity towards him and towards any iranian people and there's just no reason for animosity. in a situation like this, i don't know who is making the decisions. i don't know why -- what happened to us happened. and there's no -- there's no feeling of blame or anger. there's just a strong desire for it to be over so we can go on with our lives. >> iran accuses the hikers of spying. they claim they crossed the border from iraq accidentally. happening now, jenna lee is interviewing her tomorrow on fox news. a nicaraguan diplomat that was supposed to be at the united nations today never made it. police say his driver found him dead this morning inside an apartment in the bronx north of manhattan.

cops say somebody slashed the man's throat and the knife was on the floor nearby. no word on a motive and no word on any suspects. fox news is america's election headquarters and republicans in congress are trying to win back the house with their new list of campaign promises. they've put a label on it. they're calling it pledge to america. house republicans unveiled the plan today at an event in virginia. it's 21 pages of policies and principles. what g.o.p. members say they will do if voters return them to power in november. shannon breen is taking a close look at the thing and live in the d.c. newsroom now with details and reaction. hey, shannon. >> hi, shepard. republicans admitted the last time they were in charge of the house they made some mistakes. they learned their lesson and they've been listening to the american people and that's where the pledge to america actually comes from. here's key components, job creation, repealing the health care bill, reforming congress and beefing up our national

security. >> we pledge to uphold the model for our country, our founders envisioned. a grander america. the exception among the nations of the earth. where promise of liberty reflects the hopes of mankind. >> republican leaders rolled out their new agenda at that lumberyard in a washington suburb after holding a small business roundtable. but democrats cried foul when later in the same day, this afternoon, 174 republicans went to the house floor and voted no on the small business lending bill. republicans equated it to yet another bailout with taxpayer money but the bill did pass and democrats say it's a key to getting small businesses back on solid economic footing. >> when it's time for a photo op at a small business, republicans are there. but it's when it's time to actually help small businesses grow, we find them voting to outsource jobs overseas. >> social conservatives who had pushed for conclusion of the issues they cared most about didn't have a lot of success

into getting into the pledge. there's one mention of respecting traditional marriage and making sure the taxpayer dollars aren't used to fund abortions. >> shannon breen live in our washington newsroom. thanks. disappointing economic news now as the number of people filing new unemployment claims went up last week. labor department reports first time requests for unemployment benefits jumped by 12,000 from the week before. economists had predicted claims would hold steady but this is just part of the picture. fox business network adam shapiro is with us now. give us a little perspective on this, if you could. >> the numbers went up, 465,000 initial claims for unemployment. wall street saw this and read into it some numbers that sound like good news. that's a horrible number. the good news is that the four week moving average fell by about 3,000 and the continuing claims fell by 48,000. but shep, these numbers are still very high. the so-called summer of recovery for millions of americans is no such thing. >> we've heard some positive news on housing developments today. but i guess the devil is often in the details. >> devil is in the details.

ok, so existing home sales were on pace for 4.13 million sales this year. that's supposed to be a lot better than what we saw. a third of those sales, the numbers we got in august were homes that were foreclosed. that's causing prices to remain distressed and we have an inventory of 11.6 months worth of supply on the market. it for the long range looks very bad still for housing. >> how did the financial markets react? >> they didn't like any of it. they were down today. a lot of had to do with some technicals. bottom line, tag markearket a l of people thought the rally we had in september was a bit overblown and now we're seeing that put into force. >> it's still up for the month and unusual for the month. >> it's unusual for the month. part of it is we were oversold for the summer. now we're correcting again. >> all right. good to see you auto. auto not an official correction. >> not at all. the video rental chain blockbuster, no smiles there today. filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. like other video chains, blockbuster struggled as more and more of us rent movies

through the mail or through cable providers or whatever. earlier this year, the company announced it was closing hundreds of stores and warn they might come. today comes as no huge surprise. analysts predict more store closings and layoffs ahead as blockbuster figures out what to do with its 3300 u.s. stores and 25,000 employees. the company reports those stores will remain open as it reorganizes. this time last night, we told you about a book that reported deep division within the white house about our strategy in the war in afghanistan. and now the man in charge of the united states military, the defense secretary himself is speaking on those reports. we'll find out what he has to say. plus avandia. it was once the top selling drug in all the world for diabetes and now the united states government with a big decision on whether it's safe for anybody. that's just ahead tonight from the journalists at fox news on this "fox report. [ male announcer ] you can dream of delivering leading edge i.t. solutions

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>> the top man at the pentagon shrugging off a report that the president's team couldn't agree on a plan for afghanistan. robert gates playing down the version of events that bob woodward laid out in his book and sells that only conflicts sells. jennifer griffin live at the white house today. secretary gates insists that white house relations are better than he's ever experienced. >> that's what he says. and he has served under four presidents. >> the relationship among senior officials in this administration is as harmonious as any i've experienced in my time in government. >> that's not saying much, shep, because in this book, the national security advisor refers to the president's aides as water bugs. >> jennifer, some of these new revelations in woodward's book come from classified information.

it's my understanding, but the pentagon's reaction to those is really a lot different from the way it responded to other recent links of classified documents. >> well, remember how they responded to the wikileaks leaks, that was classified information. listen to admiral mullin. >> the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an afghan family. >> the battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies, and afghan partners. >> well, woodward revealed classified conversations in "the situation room" as well as a supposed secret paramilitary force in afghanistan. you didn't hear that kind of reaction today. that's because the white house provided most of the leaks. shep? >> all right, jen griffin at the pentagon tonight. thank you much the maker of a popular baby formula is announcing a major recall tonight after it found beetles in the product at one of his

factories. beetles in baby milk. the recall involved certain infant formula sold under the similac brand names. beetles and their larva pose no immediate risk to children other than possibly causing an upset stomach as beetles want to do. you can find more details about the recall at our web site at foxnews.com/shep. regulators in the united states and europe meanwhile are making crucial decisions that could impact tens of millions of people with type 2 diabetes. it concerns that drug avandia. and the heart attack risks associated therein. european regulators today say the risks are not worth it. they've ordered the drug off the market across all of europe. while the united states food and drug administration reports it will continue to allow avandia sales but only if patients can't control their blood sugar with other medications. 75% of all americans will be obese by the year 2020. 75%. that's from a new report out today. the organization for economic

cooperation and development, it's called. it usually studies economic data for the world's largest economies but it's releasing its first obesity forecast because many governments worry bigger people could lead to bigger health care costs. gee, you think? according to the report, the u.s. currently leads the fat pack with an obesity rate of 30.6%. prosecutors say a group of high school students pestered, harassed and bullied a classmate so ruthlessly, they pushed their 15-year-old victim to kill herself. now the suspect's lawyers say there's really no case here. we'll explain what the judge -- what they told the judge today and investigators say two guys broke into a home, tied up and tortured the family, lit a fire and drove off. now chilling details of what the police say the murder suspects did before the attack. it seems they were text messaging each other. and wait until you see. [ male announcer ] what is performance? 0 to 60? or0 to 0?

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>> investigators say two men attacked an entire family in connecticut and before they did, they were texting each other about the crime. with one writing that before they began, he had to put his kid to bed. some of what came out today during the trial of steven hayes. police say steven hayes on the left here and the accomplice on the right broke into dr. william petit's home in july of 2007. investigators say the two men took the dr. petit's family hostage, raped and strangled his wife, sexually assaulted petit's 11-year-old daughter, tied up their 17-year-old daughter. and then torched the house. with everyone still inside. yesterday, jurors saw surveillance video that investigators say shows hayes buying gasoline that the suspects used to set that house on fire. dr. petit was the only member of

his family to survive the attack. imagine his horror today as he was right there in court as all of us learned very disturbing new details about an already sickening crime. the fox report's chief correspondent jonathan hunt is here. these text messages are awful. >> it's hard t find the words for them, shep. and these were text messages that were exchanged just hours before these horrific crimes took place. steven hayes, one of the accused first texted him saying i'm chomping at the bit to get started. i need a margarita soon. he replied, putting kid to bed. hold your horses. hayes wrote back to him. dude, the horses want to get loose. lol. or laugh outloud. just hours after those messages were exchanged, he had put his own kid to bed allegedly

sexually assaulted the 11-year-old girl. >> we also heard about these graphic photos, one suspect reportedly took on his cell phone. >> these were even more disturbing if that is possible. in fact, they were so disturbing that the judge decided that the courtroom and the jurors would not actually see them. they were described instead to the jury by a state police investigator. they showed various parts of the crime as it was unfolding. they are simply too disgusting to even describe on television. dr. william petit, the father, apparently gripped the bar in front of him in court as the details were read out by the state police investigator. just another horrific moment in what is really a deeply disturbing trial. >> the defense here, the defense is that the cops should have stopped him and it shouldn't have happened. it's the cops' fault. are they out of their mind? >> quite possibly. part of the defense that seems

to be put forward here is the cops were actually outside the house for 30 minutes before they moved in. and the cops said that was because they could not see any activity and they weren't sure anything was actually happening. but they're apparently going to use that as part of their defense. our own judge napolitano, listen to what he says about that. >> that is absurd and preposterous the police didn't stop me. if that is a defense, that's a defense to any crime and no jury would accept it. >> but the judge also said that while it is in his words absurd and preposterous, the judge in this case is probably allowing them to use that defense to avoid any objections later on and the possibility, therefore, of a mistrial. shep? >> jonathan hunt, thank you, sir. appreciate it. attorneys for three teenagers charged in that bullying case said today they'll ask the judge to throw out the indictments on the basis of insufficient evidence. prosecutors in south hadley, massachusetts say the girls relentlessly bullied 15-year-old phoebe prince after she had a brief relationship with a boy

one of them had dated. in january, she hanged herself with a scarf her sister had given her for christmas. all togeer, six teens from south hadley high school face charges that range from stalking to civil rights violations. prosecutors said today they plan to call up to 50 witnesses to prove their case. president obama could soon find out whether he needs a new chief of staff and now two other members of the inner circle at the white house are saying they plan to leave, too. we'll be live in d.c. on the top story at the bottom of the hour plus a record number of americans decided to skip the wedding and just live here together. keep the government out of this thing! researchers say they noticed something else about these couples that may explain the trend. see you in a minute. [ male ann] this is steven, a busy man. his day starts with his arthritis pain. that's breakfast with two pills. the morning is over, it's time for two more pills. the day marches on, back to more pills. and when he's finally home... but hang on;

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we're told one american astronaut is hitching a ride back to earth on the spacecraft. the shuttle is set to land early in the morning in kazakhstan. i'm shepard smith. this is "the fox report." it's the bottom of the hour. time for the top of the news. david axelrod says he will at some point leave his job as senior white house advisor to work on president obama's re-election campaign. but he now tells fox news it will not happen until "well into next year." it comes after two leaders of the president's economic team announced their departure and as his chief of staff considers a run for mayor of chicago. our chief washington correspondent jim angle on the top story at the bottom of the hour. these are a lot of changes within the president's inner circle. >> that's right, shep. not only that but defense secretary robert gates made clear today that he'll definitely leave next year saying he's made up his mind. now, the average tenure for senior white house aides is about 18 months because people burn out, of course, but that

happens even quicker when things are not going well and with republicans poised to take over the house, that won't make it any easier. shep? >> it sure won't. the president now faces some important decisions as he considers replacements for those posts. >> yeah, especially the economic advisors, shep, with the economy struggling a lot of democrats are urging the president to choose someone from the business community as his next economic advisor. listen. >> the congress is clamoring for people with experience, real life experience is key to this president, i believe, understanding the way things are. >> the question is whether personnel changes will lead to any policy changes but that, of course, ultimately depends on the president. >> any other movement expected soon, jim? >> we've got a lot of other people talking about leaving. no one has announced anything. you can expect a lot of people to leave over the next year as things get rougher when you're

likely to have a republican house. >> jim angle live on capitol hill tonight. jim, thanks. the battle over extending the bush era tax cuts will drag on a little longer. senate democrats voting off of -- putting off a vote, i should say, until after election day. the tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year by law. most democrats say they only want to renew them for families making $250,000 or less. the republicans, though, say we should extend them for everybody but this is the wrong time to raise everybody's taxes. >> the weak job market could be the reason more unmarried couples are moving in together. the u.s. census bureau releasing new data that shows the number of unmarried men and women rose 13% last year after it dropped the year before. analysts say for many, the move may be one of necessity. just 39% of the couples who moved in together report both partners have jobs. that's compared to 50% of couples that were already living together.

what do you want from us? that was the headline from a mexican newspaper directed at drug cartels suspected of killing two of its reporters. drug violence has killed nearly 5,000 people in the town within the past two years. the city is on the u.s.-mexico border right across from el paso, texas. mexican president felipe calderon says he has a plan to protect journalists including immediate access to authorities for reporters who feel threatened and tougher penalties for those who commit crimes against journalists and the creation of a group to identify the causes of such attacks. trace gallagher has the news from our west coast news hub this afternoon. police can't protect themselves how in the world do they expect -- >> it's a great point, shep. the bottom line is over the past four years, you're talking about more than 1,000 police officers and politicians and prosecutors and judges have been murdered in mexico. there are still some cities in mexico that don't have police

chiefs and the reason is because nobody wants the job because it's simply too dangerous. experts say the cartels have more money, they have more men and they have more guns than any police department in mexico including, shep, the federal police. >> tell us about this mexican newspaper that appears at least to be bargaining with the cartels. >> the newspaper is called el deraleo which in english means the daily. it's from about the same size city as san diego and critics say the paper seemed to surrender to the cartels when it issued this editorial on sunday. i'm reading here. it says "you are currently the de facto authorities in this city. tell us what you expect from us as a newspaper." now the director of the newspaper says he wasn't speaking directly to the drug gangs issuing this statement saying and i'm quoting here, we wanted to provoke a reaction that would call attention to what's happening in juarez and

in the end, we met our objective and in the end, he did meet his objective because there's a worldwide outcry from this, shep. we also note that mexican newspapers in recent years have also been accused of widespread corruption. shep? >> trace gallagher live in los angeles. thanks. former new orleans police detective is going to prison. he admitted he helped cover up a massacre in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. happened five years ago as the water poured into the city. prosecutors say officers on the bridge fired on an unarmed family and then minutes later at two brothers. all together, the gunfire wounded four people, killed two including a man with severe mental disabilities. witnesses say police shot the 40-year-old in the back. as he ran away. 11 officers now face charges related to the crime. five have already pleaded guilty to helping with a cover-up. among them, the former detective who the judge sentenced yesterday. jeffrey lariman, sentencing

guide lines called for the six months behind bars. the judge gave him three years and said this -- in a time of need, citizens must be able to rely on police for protection. instead, we needed protection from you. the founder of facebook is now reportedly giving, get this, $100 million to schools in an american city. one city, just as that city gets ready to launch a big push to rework the system. we'll take you to that place and show you what they're doing. the district has some of the worst figures in the nation, according to "the wall street journal", newark, new jersey, "wall street journal" is owned by the parent company of this network and newark spends $22,000 a year on each of its student but half of them drop out anyway. we're told zuckerberg has no particular connection to newark but began discussion tng the ci future with their mayor when they met at a conference in

july. in other facebook news, technical problems crashed the site yesterday and for a good part of today, they released a statement saying they were working on the problem but didn't explain exactly what went wrong. the homeland security department spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a program to protect some of the country's most vulnerable places. the program was supposed to keep ports safe. but there's a very big problem with the plan. that's coming up. plus our continuing series "the rise of freedom." tonight, you'll meet the owner of the world trade center and learn how he says yes, dear saved his life on the attacks of 9/11. >> had the planes hit, had the first plane hit 15 minutes later, i would have wiped. [ male announcer ] try fixodent with a time-released formula. use just once per day for dawn-to-dark hold. it is important to use the product as directed. fixodent and forget it.

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senior person in the government who uncovered all this. >> that's right, shep. the investigation covered two programs designed to detect nuclear material being smuggled into the u.s. and in one case, the investigator found the technology was being pushed too hard, too fast. in another case, the equipment was just too big and it didn't fit into the cargo container inspection lanes. the investigator told us it was like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. >> this is not a picture of good government and it's not good government. in some cases, it was common sense. >> in the process, nearly a half billion taxpayer dollars was wasted on these technologies. >> there are claims that the homeland security department really misled congress on this, right? >> well, staffers for senator collins say the program to screen containers was sidelined in 2007 in the research and development. in 2009 and in the 2010 budget,

homeland security asked congress for money to buy this equipment that didn't fit into the inspection lanes. >> it's either an example of incompetence or misleading congress. either case, it's completely unacceptable. this is a serious problem. >> homeland security official tells fox the department in no way misled congress. they were fully briefed on the concepts of the programs and when the budget requests were made, they were based on the best information that homeland security at that time, shep. >> ok, catherine herridge in washington tonight. good to see you. we've all heard the stories, people who survived the attacks of 9/11 because they missed a flight or decided to go to work late that day much the owner of the world trade center site owns his life in part to a similar twist of fate and the advice of his wife. i recently got to sit down with larry silverstein on part of our series on the rebuilding of ground zero "the rise of freedom."

>> when i started dating, the staten island ferry was a wonderful place to take a girl on a saturday night. you can have a fantastic boat ride and see the sights. that was one of the joys of being here in 1987, i remember looking up to the twin towers and i said to myself, wouldn't it be fan ttastic some day to o those building? >> fast forward, it's the summer of 2001 and you acquired the world trade center. >> we closed the deal six weeks before 9/11. the morning of 9/11, my wife had made an appointment for me with the dermatologist. you can see i have light colored hair, fair skin. the sun does a job on me constantly and i'm sitting there saying, sweetheart, cancel the

dermatologist. i have so much to do downtown. i'm going down to the trade center. she got angry. she got upset and i'm married 45 years and i said don't get angry. don't get angry. the words yes, dear. your wife gets upset when you don't go. whatever you want me to do, i'll do. and so instead of going downtown, i was going to the dermatologist. >> and your mind -- >> so, of course, at that time, my two children are on their way down to work in the twin towers. half the company was already in temporary space in the twin towers. and as a matter of fact, had the plane hit, had the first plane hit 15 minutes later, our family would have been wiped. >> what we think -- what ultimately develop here is with

a completed trade center the same impact that rockefeller center had on the fifth avenue corridor and on the west side in the 1930's is exactly what we're gonna have here by 2014, 2015, 2016 when this is done. >> can you visualize that day when they cut the ribbon and people come in and it all comes together? >> i hope -- i'm only 79 years of age. i hope to be around at that time and i hope to be able to enjoy it and certainly participate in it. the values we have here in america are extraordinary. and to be able to rebuild this as testament to the values that this country espouses is just a spectacular privilege. and i consider myself to have been privileged and be privileged to participate in all of this. i'm blessed in that regard. >> yes indeed. i was down at ground zero working on another story that we'll show you in a couple of weeks but main tower, the one

you saw there in the video or the animation is now at 31 stories. what do they have? that means 73 more to go. and they're going about 108. they're getting there. we'll have another story every single night on "the fox report" until all those buildings are built three years from now, the entire series will be here. you can e-mail the workers at ground zero who are rebuilding. incredible bunch of folks they are. foxnews.com/freedom. 40 days left until the midterm elections. as the political back and forth gets nasty, the white house sends on the first lady on the trial. how she could help the democrats in very tough races and more trouble for lindsay lohan. why she could be back in that orange jail jumpsuit and sister katy perry is known for her revealing outfits. is this dress too much for sesame street?

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>> you can live in a trash can and eat all the cookies you want or you could but you better be careful what you wear on "sesame street." singer katy perry taped a version of her hit "hot and cold" with elmo. the clip hit you tube before ever airing on tv and parents are complaining that katy's outfit is too hot for a kids show. look at this. >> come on, elmo! don't you want to -- >> elmo! ♪ you wanna play so i won't ♪ >> ever been to the beach? "sesame street" reports in light of the feedback, the segment won't air at all. no word on elmo's lack of

clothing. lindsay lohan just finished two weeks in jail and three weeks in rehab and all she had to do to stay free was to pass her pee test. apparently that was too much to ask. the actress heading back to court tomorrow after she failed a cocaine test, we're told the judge will likely order into custody but because of overcrowding, once he sends her away, she'll be able to post bail right then and there and never see the inside of a jail cell. the self-described mom in chief, first lady michelle obama getting ready to hit the campaign trail now. mrs. obama will visit these six states in the weeks leading up to the midterm election. headlining democratic fundraisers and some of the year's most important battlegrounds. today, president obama introduced his wife as keynote speaker for the clinton global initiative in new york city. the first lady normally speaks out on behalf of better education and healthy eating for children. trying to keep democrats expected from losing a number of seats in the house and senate

could be a bigger challenge. molly henenberg live on capitol hill. the democrats are facing tall orders to stay in power. how is the white house expecting to use the first lady? >> hi, shep. to try to get those democrats fired up for the midterm elections. a spokesperson says the first lady comes to the campaign trail "as a mom" and that's the lens through which she sees the world and that's her test for every issue. what it means for her daughters and all our kids but don't expect controversy from her. >> if the white house does it right, the first lady doesn't do hardcore partisan politics. she says nice things about the candidates she's with, she doesn't attack the other party or the opponent. >> an a.p. poll this month found the first lady has a 68% approval rate. shep? >> and republicans have anything to say about all this? >> they say this shows the democratic candidates need help! in california, the campaign of

republican carly fiorna says the white house is attempting a rescue mission here. >> i think it's a clear indication that the white house and democrats nationally are concerned about a seat that frankly they shouldn't be concerned about. >> because california is usually such a blue state in these kinds of races. shep? >> molly live on capitol hill. thank. the state of virginia scheduled to execute 41-year-old theresa lewis a little more than an hour from now. today, the united states supreme court and the virginia governor bob mcdonald both refuse to block the execution. psychologists say lewis has an i.q. of 72. just above what is legally considered mentally retarded is the world that they use in virginia. mentally handicapped we should say. prosecutors say lewis planned the murders of husband and stepson in 2002. she confessed to using sex and

money to pay her boyfriend to kill another man and kill -- to pay her boyfriend and another man to kill them. the two triggermen are being tried and the iran president mahmoud ahmadinejad says the case shows american hypocrisy and the ambassador to the united states says the death sentence is contrary to the minimum standards of human rights. >> this better work, boy. i don't want to wind up working on your mother's emu farm. >> don't worry, this is a school we've been dreaming about. >> quite a score indeed. the mystery of the stolen bart simpson statue. if homer wasn't involved, who was [ male announcer ] fact -- when doctors are in pain,

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chained to a bench. he says kids like to have their picture taken with bart and everybody misses the yellow guy. >> whoever took it, they can just bring it back and leave it on the patio and no questions asked. >> leave bart here, please. we're told that bart had been on that bench for about eight months. top stories tonight, in the speech at the united nations, the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad today suggested that the attacks of 9/11 may have been an inside job by elements of the united states government. thank you. the food and drug administration today placed new restrictions on the diabetes drug avandia. it has reportedly been linked to heart attacks and european regulators have banned it all together and the facebook founder reportedly set to donate $100 million to cash strapped school district of new, new jersey, the news one week ahead of the social network, a film that reportedly paints an unflattering picture of the young billionaire. on this day in 1944, president roosevelt took a stand against the republican attack on his dog.

politics really haven't changed in america. at the time, roosevelt was delivering a campaign speech to the teachers union. in it, f.d.r. brought up accusations he had spent $20 million to pick up his scottish terrier in alaska. the story claimed that he had left the dog there accidentally and sent it -- sent a warship to retrieve it. you see, roosevelt was very close to his little black pup and half jokingly he claimed the g.o.p. had sullied the reputation of his pooch. he went on to win an unprecedented fourth term. politics went to the dogs 66 years ago today in politics. now you know the news for this thursday, september 23, 2010. we've been telling but this mahmoud ahmadinejad thing, right? i'm supposed to interview him in the morning, was supposed to be go off and see the rebels play for the weekend but cancel that, his chief of staff says no, 100% chance shepard, you will interview president ahmadinejad tomorrow. done deal, period. now they tell us maybe not so much. so who knows wt will ha